Disclosed herein is a support structure that supports a load measurement sensor, and particularly, a support structure that supports a load measurement sensor by a support bracket while an extension shaft portion provided in the load measurement sensor is located at the lateral side of a sensor body.
For the purpose of improving the safety or the comfortable sitting feeling of the passenger, there has been proposed a technique that controls the operation of a peripheral unit of a vehicle seat in response to the weight of the passenger sitting on the vehicle seat. In such a technique, a load measurement sensor is generally disposed below the vehicle seat on which the passenger sits in order to detect the weight of the passenger sitting on the vehicle seat.
As for the load measurement sensor arrangement position, the load measurement sensor is generally disposed below the vehicle seat. For example, there is known a vehicle seat in which the load measurement sensor is disposed between a slide rail that slides the vehicle seat in the front to back direction and a seat frame that constitutes the vehicle seat (Japanese Patent Document No. 4205028 B1, “the '028 Document”).
As illustrated in FIG. 26, the '028 Document discloses a configuration in which a load measurement sensor 130 (which is described as a “load sensor” in the '028 Document) is attached to an upper position of an upper rail 112 (which is described as a “slider” in the '028 Document) sliding relative to a lower rail 111 (which is described as a “rail body” in the '028 Document) attached to a vehicle body floor and a seat frame 101 is disposed above the load measurement sensor 130. Furthermore, FIG. 26 is a partially perspective view illustrating a vehicle seat that employs a load measurement sensor support structure according to the related art.
Then, as illustrated in FIG. 27, a shaft portion 131 (which is described as a “male screw” in the '028 Document) is provided in order to fix the load measurement sensor 130 to the seat frame 101, and is disposed so that the axial direction of the shaft portion 131 becomes the perpendicular direction. FIG. 27 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the load measurement sensor support structure according to the related art.
In recent years, there has been a demand for a technique of decreasing a height of a vehicle seat in order to improve the convenience of the passenger when the passenger sits on the vehicle seat or to improve the design of the vehicle seat. However, in a case where the load measurement sensor 130 is attached by the above-described configuration, the seat frame 101 is disposed at a position that is high by the height of the load measurement sensor 130, and hence a problem arises in that the height of the vehicle seat increases.
In order to solve the above-described problems, there is proposed a technique in which the shaft portion supporting the load measurement sensor is disposed so that the axial direction thereof becomes the horizontal direction instead of the perpendicular direction (Japanese Patent Document No. 2010-42809 A, “the '809 Document”). In the '809 Document, the load measurement sensor (which is described as a “body weight detection sensor” in the '809 Document) is attached so that the axial direction thereof becomes the horizontal direction, and the load measurement sensor is disposed within the height range of the seat frame. For this reason, the height of the vehicle seat may be decreased compared to the technique of the '028 Document.